John F. Kennedy

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John Fitzgerald Kennedy 35th President of the United States (January 20, 1961 to November 22, 1963) Nickname: “JFK”, “Jack” Born: May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts Died: November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas

Father: Joseph Patrick Kennedy Mother: Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy Married: Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy (1929-1994), on September 12, 1953 Children: Caroline Bouvier Kennedy (1957- ); John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr. (1960-99); Patrick Bouvier Kennedy (1963) Religion: Roman Catholic Education: Graduated from Harvard College (1940) Occupation: Author, public official Political Party: Democrat Other Government Positions:

Member of U.S. House of Representatives, 1947-53
United States Senator, 1953-61

Presidential Salary: $100,000/year + $50,000 expense account (refused by Kennedy)

**Presidential Election Results:**
Year		Popular Votes	Electoral Votes
1960	John F. Kennedy	34,226,731	303
	Richard M. Nixon	34,108,157	219

Vice President: Lyndon B. Johnson (1961-63) Cabinet:

Secretary of State: Dean Rusk (1961-63)
Secretary of the Treasury: C. Douglas Dillon (1961-63)
Secretary of Defense: Robert S. McNamara (1961-63)
Attorney General: Robert F. Kennedy (1961-63)
Postmaster General: J. Edward Day (1961-63); John A. Gronouski, Jr. (1963)
Secretary of the Interior: Stewart L. Udall (1961-63)
Secretary of Agriculture: Orville L. Freeman (1961-63)
Secretary of Commerce: Luther H. Hodges (1961-63)
Secretary of Labor: Arthur J. Goldberg (1961-62); W. Willard Wirtz (1962-63)
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare: Abraham A. Ribicoff (1961-62); Anthony J. Celebrezze (1962-63)

Supreme Court Appointments:

Associate Justice: Byron Raymond White (1962-93); Arthur Joseph Goldberg (1962-65)

Notable Events:

1960
- The first joint radio-television broadcast of a U.S. Presidential debate is held on September 26 between Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon.
1961
- President Kennedy proposes the Alliance for Progress as an attempt to improve US ties with Latin America.
- The U.S. sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba is attempted, without success.
- Nikita Khrushchev, the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, orders the creation of the Berlin Wall in June to divide Soviet-controlled East Berlin from West Berlin, which is part of the free and democratic West Germany.
1962
- The Cuban Missile Crisis almost turns the Cold War hot, bringing America and the USSR to the brink of a nuclear conflict.
1963
- The Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is signed on August 6 by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union.
- August 28: thousands march on Washington, calling for equal access to public facilities, quality education, adequate employment, and decent housing for African Americans. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his famous “I have a dream” speech.
- President Kennedy is assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas Texas.

Internet Biographies:

John F. Kennedy — from The Presidents of the United States of America: Compiled by the White House.
John F. Kennedy — from American Presidents: Life Portraits — C-SPAN: Biographical information, trivia, key events, video, and other reference materials. Website created to accompany C-SPAN’s 20th Anniversary Television Series, American Presidents: Life Portraits.
John F. Kennedy — from U.S. Presidents: From the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, in addition to information on the Presidents themselves, they have first lady and cabinet member biographies, listings of presidential staff and advisers, and timelines detailing significant events in the lives of each administration.
John F. Kennedy — from Character Above All: From a PBS broadcast of the same name, this essay excerpt by Richard Reeves discusses some of the issues and events that molded Kennedy.

Historical Documents:

Inaugural Address (1961)
Announcement of Candidacy for the Presidency (1960)
The Presidency in 1960 (1960)
Remarks at the University of Michigan (1960): Kennedy proposes the Peace Corps.
Address Accepting the Democratic Party Nomination for the Presidency (1960)
Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association (1960): Kennedy addresses the issue of his religion.
Address to the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1961): “City upon a hill” speech.
“The President and the Press” (1961)
Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs (1961): Kennedy establishes the goal of landing a man on the moon.
Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations (1961)
Address at the Inaugural Anniversary Dinner (1962): Humorous parody of the Inaugural Address
Address at the University of California, Berkeley (1962)
Statement on the “Steel Crisis” (1962)
Commencement Address at Yale University (1962)
Radio and TV Address on the Situation in Mississippi (1962)
Radio and TV Report on the Soviet Arms Buildup in Cuba (1962)
Commencement Address at American University (1963): Kennedy and the beginning of detente.
Radio and TV Report on Civil Rights (1963)
Remarks at the Rudolph Wilde Platz (1963): Berlin Wall speech (“Ich bin ein Berliner.”)
Address to the Irish Parliament (1963)
Radio and TV Address on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963)
Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations (1963)
Remarks at Amherst College (1963): Kennedy on the importance of the arts.
Remarks Prepared for Delivery at the Trade Mart in Dallas (1963): This speech was never given.
Remarks Prepared for Delivery to the Texas State Democratic Convention, Austin, Texas (1963): This speech was never given.

Media Resources:

Audio
Kennedy outlines the U.S. response to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. (1:00): MP3 (470K); From the Vincent Voice Library at Michigan State University.
Sound recordings from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.: Excerpts from his Inaugural Address, his address to the United Nations, and others.
Audio & Video
The American Presidency Project’s Presidential Audio/Video Archive for John F. Kennedy site

Other Internet Resources:

JFK Assassination Homepage: Created by Ralph Schuster, this is one of many conspiracy sites on the Internet on the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In addition to the author’s personal opinions, there is other useful information here — a film and video library, an account of the events of November 22, 1963, the text of the Warren Report, and links to other JFK assassination sites.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library: Located in Boston, Massachusetts, information on the museum, library collection, and tours can be found here.
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts: A “living memorial” to Kennedy, an outspoken supporter of the arts. Located in Washington, D.C. Information on the history and performances at the Kennedy Center is also available.
Sixth Floor Museum: Located on the Sixth Floor of the former Texas School Book Depository in Dallas, Texas, this site is believed to be the location where Kennedy’s assassin fired upon the presidential motorcade. Now a museum dedicated to the life of Kennedy. Tourist information is available.

Points of Interest:

Kennedy’s speech to the students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on October 14, 1960 was the start of the Peace Corps.
In his speech to a Joint Session of Congress on May 25, 1961, Kennedy set the goal of landing a man on the moon by 1969 for the United States’ Space Program (NASA).
Kennedy gave a famous speech in West Berlin in June 1963 that emphasized the importance of the “free world” fighting the “Communist world”. Two memorable phrases that he spoke in German were: “Lass’sie nach Berlin kommen,” or “Let them come to Berlin”; and “Ish bin ein Bearleener,” or “I am a Berliner.”
Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas Texas. He had spent little more than a thousand days in office before being assassinated.
In 1965, the report of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (also known as the Warren Commission) found that a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, fatally shot Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Three other government investigations were later conducted. All three agreed with the Warren Commission’s conclusions that Oswald’s shots did kill Kennedy. However, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) in 1979 also concluded that another shooter fired upon Kennedy from the Dealey Plaza grassy knoll and missed. The existence of a second shooter and many other conclusions in these investigations are very controversial.
During World War II, John F Kennedy volunteered and joined the Navy. He was awarded two medals – a Navy and Marine Corps Medal, and a Purple Heart.
In the early weeks of JFK’s presidential campaign, Jacqueline Kennedy found out she was pregnant and was advised to avoid travelling. To offset the effect her absence on the campaign trail might have on voters’ perception, she wrote a weekly column called “Campaign Wife”, which was published in newspapers across the country.

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